April 2010 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday
by Jay Eads 09 Apr '10

09 Apr '10

Good luck Patrick! Conditions aren't too bad tonight, clouds are coming and going and seem to be going until morning, still good enough for some galaxy working (but no way as good as last night). I sure hope you post a link to the animation if it works out. On 2010-04-09 02:38, Patrick Wiggins wrote: > Last night I shot a series of 110 5" exposures as it crossed my 18 arc minute tall FOV. It was pretty faint but I'm still going to try to create another animation. > > It's well placed for imaging again tonight. Hopefully brighter although moving faster. And it looks like the weather may cooperate (Clear Sky Clock says the band of clouds passing overhead now will soon be gone). > > patrick > > On 08 Apr 2010, at 18:25, Canopus56 wrote: > > > I downloaded "The Sky" asteriod element line for 2010 GA6 from the MPC-NEO ephemeris web application and ran tonight's path through a planetarium program for a Salt Lake City observing location. > > > > In terms of balancing findability (passing near something) and altitude, at 2010-4-8 22:55 this fast-mover (1/10th degree per minute) will be within one degree, celestial south of 5th magnitude star HR 1686 (HD 33564, SAO 5496). HR1686 does not have a Flamsteed number but is on a line along the tail of the Little Dipper, through Polaris about 15 degrees from Polaris. It is a relatively featureless part of Cam. At 22:55pm MDT, 2010 GA6 will be at 345d2m az, alt 42d.1m. J2000 RA: 5h24m41.75s DE:+78°55'42.4" > > > > In terms of passing an object of interest, at 2010-4-9 3:07MDT will pass almost directly over (within 2 to three arcminutes) of bright neb NGC40 in Cep. At that time, NGC40 and 2010 GA6 will only be at 26d32m alt, and az 12d09'. > > > > Resetting my planetarium program's observatory position for Wiggins Obs, the position and passing time for NGC40 is not significantly different. > > > > Backplotting the 3:00 MDT position by running a high accuracy back plot at that time using the MPC-NEO ephemeris service results in a position very near NGC40 and that is consistent with my planetarium program plot result. > > > > I won't be going after this myself, as it is too faint for a after-work urban location. > > > > Clear Skies, Kurt > > > > The Sky Asteriods.dat line (you'll have to fix the line wrapping error before pasting it into your Asteriods.dat file) - > > > > 2010 GA6 |2010 07 23.000|0.592756 |2.313974| 9.8259| 198.1731 | 33.4022 | 2000| 22.3594 |25.6 | 0.15| 0.00 > > > >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday
by Canopus56 08 Apr '10

08 Apr '10

I downloaded "The Sky" asteriod element line for 2010 GA6 from the MPC-NEO ephemeris web application and ran tonight's path through a planetarium program for a Salt Lake City observing location. In terms of balancing findability (passing near something) and altitude, at 2010-4-8 22:55 this fast-mover (1/10th degree per minute) will be within one degree, celestial south of 5th magnitude star HR 1686 (HD 33564, SAO 5496). HR1686 does not have a Flamsteed number but is on a line along the tail of the Little Dipper, through Polaris about 15 degrees from Polaris. It is a relatively featureless part of Cam. At 22:55pm MDT, 2010 GA6 will be at 345d2m az, alt 42d.1m. J2000 RA: 5h24m41.75s DE:+78°55'42.4" In terms of passing an object of interest, at 2010-4-9 3:07MDT will pass almost directly over (within 2 to three arcminutes) of bright neb NGC40 in Cep. At that time, NGC40 and 2010 GA6 will only be at 26d32m alt, and az 12d09'. Resetting my planetarium program's observatory position for Wiggins Obs, the position and passing time for NGC40 is not significantly different. Backplotting the 3:00 MDT position by running a high accuracy back plot at that time using the MPC-NEO ephemeris service results in a position very near NGC40 and that is consistent with my planetarium program plot result. I won't be going after this myself, as it is too faint for a after-work urban location. Clear Skies, Kurt The Sky Asteriods.dat line (you'll have to fix the line wrapping error before pasting it into your Asteriods.dat file) - 2010 GA6 |2010 07 23.000|0.592756 |2.313974| 9.8259|198.1731 | 33.4022 | 2000| 22.3594 |25.6 | 0.15| 0.00

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Any catching Mercury and Venus this week?
by JayLEads 08 Apr '10

08 Apr '10

Joe, Just out where I usually go. No, no frost at all, all my paper showed no hint of dampness and absolutely no frost on the scope. I have found that after the last several storms that the day after the storm clears the area, humidity is low in the desert locations and the seeing/transparency is wonderful as Chuck states. I'm heading back out somewhere tonight, maybe the backyard, might go out again but conditions looks pretty good so far though clouds will roll in later tonight. Humidity is forecasted to be higher tonight and that will impact transparency/seeing. Thus I am going to officially head back out to a dark location on Saturday. So far I'm solo and that's fine, but if anyone wants to tag along I don't bite, don't talk too much as I have a couple of programs I'm working through or involved with. and usually enjoy have someone nearby be it a visual observer or an astrophotographer. Then again, those nights alone in the mountains or desert, with the coyotes giving me a serenade are also wonderfully enjoyable! On 2010-04-08 15:58, Joe Bauman wrote: > Jay, Where were you observing? Did you run into frost? Best wishes, Joe > > > > > > Just came in from a wonderful evening/night and I have to say looking at Venus and Mercury at twilight and taking some shots of them was very enjoyable. Just wondering if anyone is looking that way or are they too low for most? BTW, I thought that conditions tonight where I was were wonderful. Little if any twinkle in the stars made for great transparency and seeing and excellent galaxy time tonight. I'm not going to be able to make it to The Wedge this weekend (son's birthday) but I am planing on either Lake Side, Pit n Pole or another site on Friday if anyone is interested. > > > >

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Any catching Mercury and Venus this week?
by Jay Eads 08 Apr '10

08 Apr '10

Just came in from a wonderful evening/night and I have to say looking at Venus and Mercury at twilight and taking some shots of them was very enjoyable. Just wondering if anyone is looking that way or are they too low for most? BTW, I thought that conditions tonight where I was were wonderful. Little if any twinkle in the stars made for great transparency and seeing and excellent galaxy time tonight. I'm not going to be able to make it to The Wedge this weekend (son's birthday) but I am planing on either Lake Side, Pit n Pole or another site on Friday if anyone is interested.

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Impromptu Sun watch at SPOC today (maybe)
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Apr '10

08 Apr '10

On the way home from last night's lecture at the U (a very good talk, BTW) Bruce and I kicked around the idea of using SPOC's refractor and the Daystar filter this mid-afternoon (Thursday) to look at the Sun. No set time just yet but I'm thinking maybe 3 or so before the Sun gets too low. If anyone would care to join us just email me and I'll let you know when we decide to do it. patrick

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Sun shot
by Patrick Wiggins 07 Apr '10

07 Apr '10

Quick and dirty with Nikon D-70 and PST. Obviously I've a lot to learn (like that webcams do better than DSLRs) but at lest is shows the Sun is coming back to life. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/SUN2010APR07.JPG patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Sky Quality Meter/SQM Recommendations
by Canopus56 07 Apr '10

07 Apr '10

> I saw the Unihedron SQM (see the link below) and was > thinking about that one. Any other suggestions? Jay, The $120 SQM is the only consumer product that I am aware. I own one and enjoy routinely using it. The only other amateur option that I am aware of that would take all-sky light pollution images similar to those seen at page 30 of the May Edition of Sky & Telescope (and formally featured in this newsgroup by the 'Dark Sky Ranger') is described as follows. It would be more expensive than the SQM's $120 price point. I have not yet implemented it, but it is on my 'to do' list for this summer. The following optical setup can be coupled with any T-mount amateur astronomy camera to make an inexpensive fish-eye lens and to take long-exposure images of 160 deg TFOV down to mag 7 or so: Edmund Optics Micro Video Lens 1.68mmFL (160 TFOV), No IR-Cut Filter M12 thread (Edmund online order) http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=2196 Edmund M12-to-C adapter with lock nut - $30 http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=3188 Edmund C-to-T adapter before special local milling Male T-Mount to Female C-Mount Adapter NT58-753 - $39 http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=1316 Edmund 1.68mm FL lens with custom M12-to-C adapter - $38 http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/atm/AllSkyMeteorSetups/14Me… If you already have a fisheye lens for a DSLR (which usually run $600+ USD) with a B button, you can also use that. Based on my limited understanding of the Dark Sky Ranger activities at the Park Service, initially they were using an all-sky fish-eye lens. More recently, the NPS rangers seem to be using some variant on the JPL special purpose mosasic camera - then one used to produce the famous 3-4 gigabyte image of the Obama inaugural address. See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigapan http://www.gigapansystems.com/ gigapan Epic Pro ($900) http://www.gigapan.org/ http://gigapansystems.com/gigapan-products/gigapan-software/gigapan-stitche… GigaPanStitch The following are some theoretical possibilities that do not involve fisheye lenses - A consumer version of moasiac mounts has been produced - gigapan Epic Pro ($900). A special purpose mosiac mount is an expensive but attractive technological alternative to a fisheye lens. Essentially you could mount a narrow field DSLR on it with a standard 35 deg TFOV DSLR lens and the mount and its software willhandle stitching an allsky mosaic together. Whether such terresterial photography consumer products will destory the photometry data as part of the mosaic stitching process is unknown. Neither will have that laboratory documented accuracy the Unihedron SQM but have the advantage of producing 2-D celestial dome maps instead of the single point reading of the Unihedron SQM. In my planned test fisheye setup, which will initially use a old DSI Pro II monochrome ($90-$120 on sale), the 160 TFOV lens is used to take an all sky image. Then using software like API4WIN, bright calibration stars (0 to -1 mag) can be used to calibrate the image and to convert each pixel in the image into a magnitude and/or magnitude per square arcsecond values. From there, graphing or math software like Mathematica, MathLab or Maple can be used to produce a density graph. Another possibility would be to mount a DSLR with a standard lens on an ASCOM compatible telescope mount. Then try to use EQMOD-Mosaic - an ASCOM application to take mosaics as the driver software to collect a series of 35 deg deep field exposures. Then use AIP4WIN or other astronomy and imaging software to stitch the images together. Just some ideas. - Kurt P.S. - To the SLAS management - Maybe a proposal to think about for the ZAP grant would be the purchase of a DSLR ($700) and a gigapan Epic Pro ($900) through which SLAS would agree to produce documentation of monthly and annual changes in light pollution over Salt Lake County and to develop that data into a school presentation module on light pollution. Note the list of gigaPan Epic Pro compatible DSLRs - only some DSLRs run in fully automated mode. http://gigapansystems.com/compatible-cameras.html

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Venus & Mercury
by Patrick Wiggins 07 Apr '10

07 Apr '10

Nice view of Venus and (a brighter than I expected) Mercury side-by-side this evening. Both fit nicely inside the 4.5° FOV of my 11x80. patrick

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NOVA Hunting the Edge of Space
by JayLEads 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

Just got done watching Episode 1 on KUED and found it fun and interesting. They focused on Sir William Herschel and his use of the telescope to refine what had been found before him, and throughout they focused on some of the new land based and space based telescopes. I recommend if you have the time to find out when it is repeating and/or to watch it next Tuesday unless your out observing.

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Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday
by Patrick Wiggins 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

At a bit brighter than mag 18 and pretty well placed in the sky it should be pretty easy to get some images. For Utahans it'll be daylight at closest approach so we'll either have to try just after sunset or maybe the night before (mag 16 then). Weather permitting, of course. For the NASA release go here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-115&rn=news.xml&rst=2549 For positional data go to: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html and enter 2010 GA6 in the search box. If you're fairly close to Stansbury Park you can enter my Observatory Code 718. Further out you'll need to enter your long. and lat. patrick

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